It's good that week is over
Nov. 26th, 2006 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseThanksgiving was nice. I'll establish that right out the door. The rest of the week, not so nice. Pandora injured her gaskin on Sunday, and it swelled so badly I was afraid it was a puncture wound--those are not good. However a light dose of antibiotics and some time in the stall took care of it without resort to the vet, and now she's sufficiently recovered to have executed a backwards courbette yesterday evening during a communal attack of the whees. The swelling is completely gone and has been for a couple of days. I'll be giving her one more day off on principle, then back to work for her.
I did have turkey, but we did it last Sunday, with the requisite three days of leftovers. Then Thursday was dinner en masse at a lovely restaurant, with so much food we all took boxes home. I had lamb; there was also turkey with ham (enough per portion to serve a family of four), steak with shrimp, and salmon. Plus numerous appetizers, salads, and desserts. Very pleasant altogether.
And, to add to the pleasure, before dinner I had a lovely ride on Capria, doing homework and playing with canter. Sometimes it's good to remind myself that the world isn't entirely comprised of green horses.
Today we had lessons. I was going to bag mine (publisher is criminally late with a payment--one of the chief components of Freelance Hell), but Teacher let me run a tab. I'm glad she did. I've been working Pooka regularly, and Teacher noted that he's muscling up visibly. It's only been three weeks since he went back to work, but hey, Lipizzan. Testosterone. A little work, they muscle right up.
We've been doing a fair bit of trot work and transitions on our own, plus he's had some good walkies. I've been working on establishing that I get to steer, I can help him balance, and we can both work together to make the ride more enjoyable. Today's lesson showed that the work is working.
A key to what we're doing is starting the work on balance as soon as we get into the arena. I walk him in hand around the arena to get his attention and gauge where he is in body and mind. Then I set him up by the mounting block and make sure he's standing square and with his back up before I mount. Once I mount, I work on accessing his back, bringing his neck level with my tailbone and connecting my seatbones by asking him to turn his head from side to side by slight pressure from a seatbone on one side or another. Then we walk on.
It's just a few minutes but it makes such a difference. By the time he's in motion, his back is connected and I have my circle of aids. He's relaxed as a result, and his neck is long and soft and getting straighter all the time. It's so long in fact that I can't reach his ears from the saddle. This is a little horse, and in the old, contracted days I could stretch out my hand and rest it between his ears. Not any more. The short neck this horse got marked down for by the evaluation judge is actually quite long--when he's not bunching it up into his shoulders.
We rode a lot of serpentines. First Teacher asked us to just ride the shape and feel where things weren't happening--leaning on a rein, pushing up a seatbone, dropping a shoulder. Then we were to fix the problems with seat alone, no pulling of rein. If he went off to the left for example, I was not to pull the right rein but engage the left seatbone and leg and move him off them. Reins were to in contact but close together and quiet. Eyes front, no turning of head and therefore throwing him off the line. Next Teacher presented herself as a distraction--he tends to veer toward her and stop--and I had to keep him on the line regardless of where she was or what she was doing. Fromn there we went to transitions--walk-halt-walk and walk-trot-walk--and I had to deal with his habit of going llama on the halts. I realized he likes to prop his left stifle and get stuck. If I can engage that hindleg, he'll halt less awkwardly. This work will continue.
For trot we had more of same, plus his conviction that he can't trot with his neck long, he has to go short and throw his head up. This also applies on the longe, so it's not a rider artifact entirely; not so long ago he had the same problem in walk. It's more of his issue with contracting his neck when he's worried about what he's doing. We're working on gradually lengthening the neck while also developing balanced, quiet transitions up and down. I finally managed to do a trot-walk without his falling on the left shoulder and me trying to pull him up again, which Teacher declared a victory and so we finished for the day. Then we spent some time with balancing into a square halt with no sneaking out of a muscle here or there. After which, as he stretched out his neck, I could dismount.
He had the softest eyes, and his back looked wonderful: two signs of good work. We also determined that he can handle the short girth, which is a bit more aesthetic than a long girth with universal billets (i.e. straps flapping on either side--I never cut them short in case I wanted to go with the short girth). He'll go with that for the clinic, then.
Clinic prep proceedeth apace. We'll be getting the clinician's flights shortly, then we're locked in. This week will be get out more riders, sign up auditors, keep up the promo week. We've already got an editorial in the Bridle&Bit.
Pook will love the clinic. An Audience! Worshipping Him!
Which they will be. He's damned cute, and he's a Lipizzan and all. So far we also have a couple of Anglo-Arabs including a gorgeous stallion (the mare ain't bad, either), an Andalusian, an Arab or two, and a Friesian, as well as Pook and Pandora plus a young stallion who will be getting work in hand. With more to come.
Btw,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
raithen, Teacher thinks it's great you're riding Pandora. :)
I did have turkey, but we did it last Sunday, with the requisite three days of leftovers. Then Thursday was dinner en masse at a lovely restaurant, with so much food we all took boxes home. I had lamb; there was also turkey with ham (enough per portion to serve a family of four), steak with shrimp, and salmon. Plus numerous appetizers, salads, and desserts. Very pleasant altogether.
And, to add to the pleasure, before dinner I had a lovely ride on Capria, doing homework and playing with canter. Sometimes it's good to remind myself that the world isn't entirely comprised of green horses.
Today we had lessons. I was going to bag mine (publisher is criminally late with a payment--one of the chief components of Freelance Hell), but Teacher let me run a tab. I'm glad she did. I've been working Pooka regularly, and Teacher noted that he's muscling up visibly. It's only been three weeks since he went back to work, but hey, Lipizzan. Testosterone. A little work, they muscle right up.
We've been doing a fair bit of trot work and transitions on our own, plus he's had some good walkies. I've been working on establishing that I get to steer, I can help him balance, and we can both work together to make the ride more enjoyable. Today's lesson showed that the work is working.
A key to what we're doing is starting the work on balance as soon as we get into the arena. I walk him in hand around the arena to get his attention and gauge where he is in body and mind. Then I set him up by the mounting block and make sure he's standing square and with his back up before I mount. Once I mount, I work on accessing his back, bringing his neck level with my tailbone and connecting my seatbones by asking him to turn his head from side to side by slight pressure from a seatbone on one side or another. Then we walk on.
It's just a few minutes but it makes such a difference. By the time he's in motion, his back is connected and I have my circle of aids. He's relaxed as a result, and his neck is long and soft and getting straighter all the time. It's so long in fact that I can't reach his ears from the saddle. This is a little horse, and in the old, contracted days I could stretch out my hand and rest it between his ears. Not any more. The short neck this horse got marked down for by the evaluation judge is actually quite long--when he's not bunching it up into his shoulders.
We rode a lot of serpentines. First Teacher asked us to just ride the shape and feel where things weren't happening--leaning on a rein, pushing up a seatbone, dropping a shoulder. Then we were to fix the problems with seat alone, no pulling of rein. If he went off to the left for example, I was not to pull the right rein but engage the left seatbone and leg and move him off them. Reins were to in contact but close together and quiet. Eyes front, no turning of head and therefore throwing him off the line. Next Teacher presented herself as a distraction--he tends to veer toward her and stop--and I had to keep him on the line regardless of where she was or what she was doing. Fromn there we went to transitions--walk-halt-walk and walk-trot-walk--and I had to deal with his habit of going llama on the halts. I realized he likes to prop his left stifle and get stuck. If I can engage that hindleg, he'll halt less awkwardly. This work will continue.
For trot we had more of same, plus his conviction that he can't trot with his neck long, he has to go short and throw his head up. This also applies on the longe, so it's not a rider artifact entirely; not so long ago he had the same problem in walk. It's more of his issue with contracting his neck when he's worried about what he's doing. We're working on gradually lengthening the neck while also developing balanced, quiet transitions up and down. I finally managed to do a trot-walk without his falling on the left shoulder and me trying to pull him up again, which Teacher declared a victory and so we finished for the day. Then we spent some time with balancing into a square halt with no sneaking out of a muscle here or there. After which, as he stretched out his neck, I could dismount.
He had the softest eyes, and his back looked wonderful: two signs of good work. We also determined that he can handle the short girth, which is a bit more aesthetic than a long girth with universal billets (i.e. straps flapping on either side--I never cut them short in case I wanted to go with the short girth). He'll go with that for the clinic, then.
Clinic prep proceedeth apace. We'll be getting the clinician's flights shortly, then we're locked in. This week will be get out more riders, sign up auditors, keep up the promo week. We've already got an editorial in the Bridle&Bit.
Pook will love the clinic. An Audience! Worshipping Him!
Which they will be. He's damned cute, and he's a Lipizzan and all. So far we also have a couple of Anglo-Arabs including a gorgeous stallion (the mare ain't bad, either), an Andalusian, an Arab or two, and a Friesian, as well as Pook and Pandora plus a young stallion who will be getting work in hand. With more to come.
Btw,
raithen, Teacher thinks it's great you're riding Pandora. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-26 09:52 pm (UTC)and *shakey fist* at Publishers.
Also, *meep.*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-26 10:43 pm (UTC)While you're getting ready, however, do stretch those inner-thigh muscles. She is WIIIIIIIIIIDE.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-26 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-26 11:00 pm (UTC)Icon is not a statement of opinion (for once), this is the eye-level view of Her Magnificence.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 12:44 am (UTC)I love your neep posts, btw. I sit in my chair trying to correct my seat. Hard to do when I imagine a wide body and I am on a flat one.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-28 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 11:44 pm (UTC)